Thailand is planning to establish a multi-billion dollar venture capital fund to support and lend to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in early 2015, the nation’s Finance Minister Sommai Pasee said on Monday, according to Chinese state-run Xinhua News Agency.
Thailand’s visionary venture capital fund will have an initial amount of around $1.6 billion to provide loans for cash-strapped SMEs, with the government contributing around 10% of that total, the Finance Minister said, according to Xinhua.
The bulk of the financing for the fund will be provided by Thai and international private sectors and the fund will be registered on Thailand’s SET Index, the Stock Exchange of Thailand, Xinhua reports.
The fund will lend money to firms which may not profit very well, or make as little as 8% in gross profit a year, the Finance Minister said.
“SME entrepreneurs, including those shunned by the SME Bank, will have easy access to the venture capital fund since they could probably play a pivotal part in the country’s economic growth in the future,” the Finance Minister said.
The Finance Minister said that the Thai government, under the rule of newly appointed Premier Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha, is currently running the national economy at “half capacity” and that it has yet to reach its “full capacity”, adding that the Thai government is pushing for new investment projects to boost growth, according to Xinhua.
Source: Xinhua
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